Why Liu Kang Has The Best Fatality In MK1 And You're Stupid If You Don't Like It (feat. ABI)
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- Опубліковано 16 кві 2021
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#MortalKombat #Top10WorstFatalitiesListsAre #ABadIdea - Ігри
Okay fine, ONE more.
I know this is unrelated, but how much do you agree with Max’s SFV animation tier list?
Cool video, just waiting for the Obama Dlc
@@georgebush623 We all are
My man really brought a shovel just to desecrate this corpse even more
You lied to me Baba. You said you were done! You said you were done. Look at me! Why aren't you looking? You said you were done with all of this and now you do this?
You can’t spell ignorant without ign is honestly the best roast ever
IGN is a content thief, so yeah I’d agree with that line.
Oooh clever
The old and Ancient Insults
@@Wumball didn't they make a top 10 worst mortal kombat characters that 4th snake predicted?
@@josesosa3337 I don’t know I don’t pay attention to ign after they stole videos from BabyZone
Speaking of character development through fatalities. One little detail i always liked is how sub-zero is the only returning character in mk2 that can't perform his mk1 fatality. This is, of course, because he's not the same sub-zero from mk1, and that means he's technically not a returning character. I think that's a pretty clever way to portray kuai-liang as a different person through gameplay.
Well that gets a little murky in MK9 and X
The freeze'n smash was sub-zeros censored MK1 fatality.
That and it was the most controversial
Lui Kang - I refuse to kill!
Batman - We're best friends now
He'd probably get along with superman more than batman tbh......they are quite similar after all
@@jamjars865 yeah unless it’s the injustice one
MK1 Liu Kang is best incarnation of Liu Kang
Liu Kang to DC Universe !!!
@@andreahope7254 Superman saves the day in Injustice 1. Beating Space Hilter at the end.
But for some reason he is completely absent from Injustice 2. Probably so that Batman can be the hero as always.
Does anyone else think that A.B.I's idea of performing fatalities in arcade mode results in Shang Tsung being a tougher boss fight is absolute genius? Cause it is!
It’s very similar to Jago in KI 2013, although it doesn’t affect the final boss but affects his ending which resulted in him becoming Shadow Jago
it actually really does sound like a cool mechanic.
Yeah sounds like Undertale
Yeah. I was thinking about the exact same idea while watching this before reaching his part. Was also gonna make a comment but I wanted to wait and see if they brought it up in the video which they did
Weaponlord had a similar function where you had to fight all the opponents, but if you didn't "finish" them, you'd be forced to fight them all at a higher difficulty before you could fight the final boss.
The youngest but also the fastest warrior in the tournament
Born in China. Liu Kang. Shaolin Monk.
Top Tier exposition in those songs.
@@The4thSnake FLYING KICK
@@The4thSnake hi
Honestly anytime you talk about Mortal Kombat I see it as a fact that no one else can see you because they're usually too ignorant to see it also I really like the 3D Eric games and I'm a kid like you said in the Injustice video these games are made for bloodthirsty Psychopaths and it needs to stop my favorite character is now punching people's hearts out and my other favorite is casually killing all of his allies sindel is a sin on Humanity at least in netherrealm era
@@The4thSnake CHINESE NINJA WARRIOR!
Lmao hitting 'em with the American accent xD
the legend has entered the chat
I always thought it was kind of cool. He'd just bust out a butterfly kick and uppercut. I can't do that. It was quick, snappy, and like 'Yeah, I'm so cool I don't even have to kill you.'
He probably just broke their jaw lol
That still can kill sumbody though
@@MazeDaGr8 an uppercut that sends you 10 feet in the air? For sure
I'm surprised that when bringing up Johnny Cage's aversion to killing, you didn't bring up that part in MKX where a severed head rolls by him and he swats it away in terror, showing a stark contrast between a guy who still draws a line to inflicting gruesome death on an opponent in cutscenes to one who gleefully punches multiple heads off of a target in game.
May I ask where does that happen?
@@Alex04blue868 in the beginning of mkx, Johnny’s chapter when sub and scorpion are fighting kenshi and Johnny
@@nabilahmed579 thank you
@Leon Russell imagine Johnny as a revenant. We seen how sindel, kitana, jade, kabal, subzero, smoke, Jax, and many others behave as a revenant. Johnny could basically be saying hella dark jokes or something like that. Not to mention the revenants would be getting a really powerful ally as well
@@nabilahmed579 Now I want to see that lol.
I didn't know the original point of the tournament was to restore the tournament after Shang Tsung corrupted it for the purpose to steal as many souls as he could before MK2 claimed it was about stopping Outworld from conquering it. But i did know Liu Kang's fatality is about his character being a monk, and that the monks don't kill at all
Yeah looking back at it, MK2 kinda retconned a lot of things about MK1’s story. Would be interesting to see how the series would of turned out if they stuck to MK1’s story/characters.
@@Wiki1184 It would make the stories actually interesting. Now I'm not saying that the ret-con was bad. It doesn't much in the long run. However, the excuse for Liu Kang killing in MK2 is pretty stupid. Especially since Kung Lao is like the antithesis to Liu Kang. Liu Kang is a Shaolin Monk who refuses to kill, even if the announcer says to him, FINISH HIM. He sticks to his principles of no killing others, even if they are villains working for the big bad emperor. Kung Lao is also a Shaolin Monk, But Kung Lao is much more likely to kill. He even carries a hat with a blade on it! (although the bladed hat is pretty badass.) He doesn't follow his principles to the extent Liu Kang does, And he is competitive, brash, and an Asshole. Liu Kang is Calm, Collective, and HE DOESN'T KILL. The whole point of Liu Kang is now ruined because he now kills others. Which makes MK2's Ret-con a mixed bag. If they stuck to the original story of MK1, This series would be interesting, instead of it being a gorefest with no personality at all. ( The Cages don't even save the new games.)
@@calcium7434 > Liu Kang is a Shaolin Monk who refuses to kill
Yeah, and look where that got him. Showing mercy to someone like Shang and letting him go is objectively the wrong thing to do, because once he gets a chance to lick his wounds, he'll come back even more vicious than before. The simple fact is, choices have consequences. if Liu didn't choose to take the moral high ground, his Shaolin brethren would still be alive.
That said, I think it was a great direction to take his character in. It's good writing 101 - find out what your characters stand for and then put them through the shit to see if their beliefs and convictions survive the stress test. Whether the circumstances twist them into compromising their beliefs, or whether they suffer but remain stalwart and unyielding, you get solid characterization and development out of it either way.
@@NucleaRaptor Not to mention that the same merciful attitude cost him his own life in beginning of deadly alliance.
@@scottchaison1001 what do you mean no?
I'm glad that someone finally pointed out the issue with modern MK fatalities. Half of them are just characters mutilating a corpse or torturing their opponent, which makes sense for villains but not for heroes. I mean, what kind of hero grabs another person by arms and keeps swinging him into the blade which slowly chops that character's limbs and body pieces off? It makes hero look like a psychopath who is no better than their enemy.
I think that heroes should have quicker and simpler fatalities, while villains should have the gorier ones. But that's just my opinion.
I agree. Certain kharacters should get straight to the point with their fatalities just like 4thsnake said like Jax and Sonya. It makes more sense if they efficiently and quickly kill their opponents instead of the sadistic, drawn out shit they normally do
It also depends on the villain, I'd say. Deception Kabal who was once a good guy, I don't see him killing someone sadistically for giggles, but I could be wrong.
Great point.
I mean, if you want you could have the heroes maybe do something like heroic brutalities
Kenshi fatalities in MKX honestly kind of fit him even if they're a bit too violent, more so with his powers. It would've fit with his lone wolf archetype in the original timeline
I know I've commented on this before, but I just thought of something else, so I thought I'd come back here and share.
You can kind of see this in MK9. Liu Kang's stance against killing - choosing instead to spare his opponents' lives - makes its impact on Kitana. Later on, she is shown not being able to kill a Shaolin Monk after being ordered to do so by Shao Kahn. Liu Kang's actions reached her and sparked a profound change in her.
Even Brian Tee (Liu Kang in MK legacy) said in a interview said that his favourite Liu Kang fatality is his MK1 one
The irony
Really? I remember him saying he hated Liu Kang and would have preferred to play Sub-Zero.
@@cui8789 in the interview I saw, at least, he didn’t say he hated Liu Kang, he just said he was apprehensive going into the role because his favourite characters as a kid where scorpion and sub-zero
I actually agree, with lui kang refusing to kill! he was never a boring character, he was different from others! people's lack of understanding, kills diversity!
I guarantee that in 2021 with how good their tech is and with the budget they have, they could easily make a really badass and memorable non-fatality. Just do some really cool martial arts dragon shit and not have them explode into blood. I don't understand the idea in the mk series that something can't be cool unless it butchers you
@@KingOfDarknessAndEvil it tells you something about the fandom!
MK1 Liu Kang is a much better character than God Liu Kang from MK11
Liu Kang breaks the mold of MK, making him to standout from the rest of the cast, making him more interesting than the rest of the bloodthirsty fighters. Although, I do wish he had more character.
@@knox7945 definitely!
Abi and snake collabing, NOW I'M MOTIVATED
.... nice
It’s a shame that many people in and out of Netherrealm cannot tell what character depth and consistency is.
Injustice proved that they do but for some reason they just choose not to
@@MazeDaGr8 hahahahahahaha
@@MazeDaGr8 Not really, both Injustice games are closest to actual stories from Netherrealm but they still have many problems just like their MK games.
@@scottchaison1001 saying no doesn't mean anything
@@scottchaison1001 It means you don't know how to make an argument
It's sad that they will make something called Heroic Brutality for the DC heroes that never kill but won't do the same for Liu Kang
Here's a very little nitpick
A 'fatality' sounds like an accident, when you accidentaly hit the enemy too hard and kill them, which is what brutalities in mkx-11 does
A 'brutality' sounds like an intentional act of needless sadistic violence on your opponent.... which is what fatalities are!
The terminology is reversed!
Yeah the old brutalities were indeed brutal
One of the definitions of fatality is an occurrence of death in war. Not reversed at all.
That probably comes from the original boardroom meeting where they were going to name their fighting game project 'Fatality'
Brutalities aren't an accident because these characters are supposed to be trying to kill their opponent as soon as possible. Cannonicslly, they can't see their enemy healthbars. They don't know they have to "trigger" the fatality. They just try to kill the other person before they get killed.
@@snakeslife-uroborodjinn790 true, but still... not really "brutal"
This is an awesome love letter to a Fatality that perfectly encapsulated the character wielding it. You included every important detail including how it was remade more violently in later games, how having him not be a killer strengthens his characterization & his rivalry with Kung Lao, the comparisons to evil Superman or to Heroic Brutalities, the plot points from the MK1 and MK2 comics, how the too-squeamish-to-kill personality was given to Johnny in MK9, and even gameplay details like what happens when you perform the Fatality in the Pit 1. Pretty much all my racing thoughts about this topic, you guys covered in here. Kudos for another excellent video!!
I think the problem stems from the cartwheel uppercut still being labeled as a Fatality in MK1. Even though it wasn't fatal.
Imagine if they called all finishers a brutality from day one, regardless of the gore or death
If you don't want people breaking intro your house, stop discussing interesting topics
4:43
Most accurate take on Death Battle I’ve ever heard
I mean Death battle still makes music specifically for the characters and write the characters how they should be with limited success but they still try to represent the character far better then just them on a screen performing their moves
The whole point is for them to fight. Not have a competition on morals.
It got better at characterization.
Omniman vs Homelander was enjoyable because of the characterization despite the relatively short fight.
I remember playing the games as a kid would always purposely Fatality Bad guys in the story, and would just uppercut good guys, adding my own story based lore just like A.B.I states....it makes more sense storywise
That sounds amazing. That’s why the likes of Sindel’s retcon (I know it seems weird I’m bringing it up but I’m just using it as an example) where she is unapologetically hammy and evil is such a pinch to to the gut for me: she and Liu Kang are probably the most genuine good characters in the series and yet they’re lambasted for it. This isn’t just specific for MK either: characters like Captain America and Superman are derided for simply being good people.
Even then, u can tell the difference between the two good guys, sindel and liu kang. Liu kang doesn’t kill as it upholds his shaolin viewpoint about values in all life no matter how evil a person can be. Sindel, will go to any lengths to protect her daughter and people even if it means killing herself to do so (e.g. we get a view of this in deception where she can easily break out but she cares about her daughter so much, she doesn’t want to hit her while brainwashed). And then u have dumb people saying their similar or clones of each other and they are not different in character. As a guy who likes both villains and heroes, this really disappoints me when The fandom says something like this. Same goes with villians like for example Shao and Shang Tsung. Fans see them as exactly similar or Shang Tsung, a less evil Shao. Both of them are different. Shao loves to conquer and he is the main big bad of the series while shang’s excuse for being a villain is because the elder gods punishment,for him cheating in the tournament when he was on earthrealm’s side, was too harsh (ridiculous quick aging which is why he has to steal souls). There is a clear difference in the characters but no... the fans decide to not do research and say the same as each other.
@@nabilahmed579 Sindel is more then willing to kill to protect her people and as a Queen I think it’s expected of her to be able to defend them.
@@thomasraines1396 true but people see both characters as if they’re both the same character and clones of each other
@@nabilahmed579 that’s not surprising honestly, sad but not surprising.
@@nabilahmed579 where did he got goro and the ability of stealing souls without context of the later games just the first first game make it sound odd
You could argued with soul stealing came with the curse
But where did goro come from
Why does the elder gods care about a tournament
And who was earthrealm against
And Why scorpion being undead ninja
Raiden and Sub-Zero's "censored" Fatalities from the SNES version of Mortal Kombat were actually better than the ones they got originally. Also, Netherealm must be the only ones who thought of Liu Kang as a boring character; he's Bruce Lee with fireballs, how is that boring?
Because he didnt kill. When you have a game known for its gore and everybody else was lighting people on fire or exploding heads here is this guy doing a basic ass uppercut as a finisher, its pretty boring. The fact that he was a Monk didnt matter. Lore wasnt as important as the spectacle back then.
I mean the finisher actually showed his character
Tbh the raiden and sub-zero censored fatality from the snes is actually better
How? Sub zeros original fatality is one of the best original fatalities in mortal kombat how tf is the censored versions better unless u cant handle violence which makes me wonder why u playing mortal kombat in the first place
@@Invisibleboy999 The original fatality for Sub-Zero may be one of the best, but it's a fatality that anybody on the roster could have done. (Hell, Scorpion does the same fatality in later MK games) while the "censored" fatality is him using ice powers (that thing Sub-Zero is known for) to freeze his opponent before shattering them to pieces. Midway even agree that was the better fatality for him, because that's the one he got in MK2.
It's so sad that most in the MK Community do not get Liu Kang's Pacifism :/
It's also a code for Shaolin Monks. But people tend to love violence and gore because it is MK.
@@knox7945 for Kung Lao, that doesn’t apply. I mean he has a bladed hat on top of him.
I swear to god the mortal kombat fanbase are so stupid
I mean, it's an aspect of his character that becomes pretty hilariously ironic when one of the staple techniques of said pacifist monk is to shoot projectiles that set his opponents on fire.
@@nabilahmed579he must either be chaotic good or chaotic neutral
As a kid I always assumed the move killed his opponents. I now know of John Tobias’ intentions, but still you don’t have to dismember a person in order for them to die.
to be fair, you probably do considering how non-lethal 'lethal blows' are in mk11. if shoving a sword through a guy's brain isn't enough to kill him, then shit dude- maybe i DO need to dismember him
The player/Shang Tsung: do a fatality, kill your oponent!
Chad Kang:No 🗿
ABI in his MK11 video: “I’m done talking about mortal kombat”
[4th snake releases video about MK featuring ABI]
Me: [clicks the video faster than the flash will ever look in an injustice game]
This!
The latest nrs games also play really well! It's too bad they aren't giving more time for their games. There has been a new nrs game every two years for a decade. Spending more time on the games will extend their shelf life and make better products
@@engliships2126 assuming they aren't made to add that stupid mobile game B.S. and need a always online connection....
@@jbktpl1245 listen being skeptic is fine. i just think that if they wanted to invest in it it would be better. look at injustice 2. it has a shitty mobile game and a fair amount of pay to win bs, but the gameplay AND story are the best nrs have ever made so, there are trade offs
@@engliships2126 Yeah, that's true, and please don't get me wrong, I honestly do enjoy the gameplay of NRS's games.
4th snake + American accent = scary!
Now THAT'S a Deadly Alliance! lol!
I think MK has a problem of fatalities never actually being important to the games. If you remove all the blood, guts and gore from the game, very little changes. The fatalities don't actually say anything, they doesn't express any interesting themes they're just there because MK1 had fatalities and now they assume that's all there is to MK, bloody, spectical based murderathons with no real substance when you can genuinely express some interesting stuff but that opportunity has been lost as now people will say if a fatality doesn't have over the top violence, its lame
Nah
Is funny cuz ppl usually skip over fatalities in modern mk exactly because it takes too long and becomes boring after the 5th time, so in a way, a quicker less self-indulgent way of making fatalities would be cooler and incentivise more usages of them. Also would be way cooler if all went the same route as scorpion's second fatality in mk11, quick, to the point, creative, fits the character in multiple ways that define a bunch of stuff about him and despite being very violent, not too gruesome maintaining that classic mk cool vibes while modernizing it. To be honest that's actually my fav fatality in the series.
@Canalbiruta is it the one he makes a portal to hell?
@@BabyMaharaja0 yup that one
“You’d think they grew up in the era of injustice and the Snyderverse”
To be fair, that DOES sound like the 90s
Fair.
I was introduced to MK via the Ninth installment. I was like 7 or so when it came out. Later in life, I have gotten more into Mortal Kombat. I have learned that the Midway Era portrays more character than the husks of former characters that are in the Netherrealm Era of games.
"-mk fighters have characters???"
"-yeah,they used to..."
THAT'S SAD
It doesn't matter what game it is, I NEVER use a fatality when I play Liu Kang
This video has done more justice for lui kang than nrs has
I swear lui kang in mk9 was a different dude. I was so happy tor see him be. Himself again in mk11
3:05 This reminds me of Superman. He is considered boring by many, and when he is evil, he sometimes unleashes all his power and when he does, it's terrifying.
Brothers, this is one of the best videos on Liu Kang on youtube. Infact it’s THE best.
If Liu Kang went from mild mannered Shaolin to Violence unleashed due to Evil corruption to Realist who kills when necessary. The development wouldve been more well received across the board
Kinda makes me think of Red Earth
In it, characters can perform fatalities with certain moves. Who they can or can't fatality conveys their character
Leo is the king of Savalia facing monsters to save his countrymen. He can fatality monsters, but not the players
Tessa is a selfish sorceror seeking knowledge. She considers the monsters more scientific curiosities, and that humans are above them. She can only fatality monsters
Mai-Ling is a young and innocent martial artist. She can't fatality anybody
Kenji is a calculated leader of Shinobi serving a corrupt Shogun. He can fatality everyone, players included
Red Earth is actually quite clever about this. They're entirely optional, and Leo doing them in the story has consequence. They give you more points and life regen when the fight is done, making then more tantalising to do, but will lead to the bad ending, where Leo is corrupted by Scions magic through his hunger for Battle. The PLAYER has to mind themselves to not fatality the opponent, they have to make the same choice Leo does to not seek out needless violence. A lot of Leo's moves have invincibility, or hit very far, so performing a fatality is something you have to actively TRY to avoid. That's fucking brilliant, the utilisation of a game mechanic conveys so much character
Actually, in order to get Leo's good ending, you have to avoid performing a fatality on the mini-boss.
@@harlannguyen4048 It's Blade, i a. LEO MAIN. I KNOW 😛
Hearing A.B.i say "I'll see myself out." Is so funny cause I'm so use to him saying "I'll see ya next time." that was a good idea..... HA!🤣
MK1 has the best representation of Liu Kang
MK1 Liu Kang, a good example of a noble warrior who is strong in his beliefs despite the corrupt cast of characters he is surrounded by, sounds so much better than the one we got.
it's sad that every character portrait in video games is becoming more and more shallow. Reminds me of The Simpsons, where the new writers do not understand the nuance of their characters and they just go "Bart doesn't behave, Marge is a wife, Lisa is annoying, Homer is dumb"
Yeah, they go for character traits instead of going into depth on "why" they do what they do.
@@scottchaison1001 no... what? do you disagree?
Ah, yes. That well known personality trait. "A wife".
@@TheSmart-CasualGamer indeed
An interesting newer episode of The Simpsons I recently caught was Homer and his friends being injected with anti-booze. Homer refuses to take the antidote, feeling like a better man and the kind of person he always wanted to be. It was a nice little hint of something interesting.
Man you’re a real MK fan. You remind me a lot of Tabmok with the level of dedication you give to the games more stellar aspects.
I feel like maybe it would make sense that Liu doesn’t kill in story mode but is still able to in the arcade or vs mode. I appreciate the idea that if he is fighting shang than he is smart enough to not give him more souls to feed on
Now I wish, there was a conflict for Liu Kang of not killing people in the NRS story(
That's like wishing EA would stop being assholes; close to impossible.
Why can't we have these two write the story for MK now?
Because mah bawls
I'm glad someone actually understands the point of the fatality. I can die in peace now
*Liu Kang proceeds to cartwheel-uppercut his opponent into The Pit in MK1*
*Physics wins fatality*
You know what's funny? I remember distinctly thinking it was really weird when Liu Kang performed a fatality in MK vs. DC. In a game filled with heroes and good people, Mortal Kombat's hero... kills... with at least one of his fatalities.
Liu Kang has always been my favorite, even as a kid, he was cooler than Scorpion and Sub-Zero. So when MK vs. DC had such a stark contrast between "heroes" from each universe, it was jarring and it made Liu Kang seem like a worse person than Batman or Superman, which in reality, he should be on the same level in morality. To be honest, none of the MK heroes FELT like heroes in that game. It was just especially apparent with Liu Kang that something was REALLY wrong.
Just another failure that game had, but now I know why I felt that way.
I didn't know about people complaining about the monks being too violent in Shaolin Monks. I do recall seeing some criticism about Kung Lao becoming an arrogant glory seeker and Liu kang being somewhat immature but my interaction with the MK fandom was very limited at the time.
I have no idea why this video showed up in my recommanded since i haven't played any MK games, but this was still an interesting analisys.
Thanks for giving it a chance.
@@The4thSnake You're welcome.
"Top ten" videos need to stay in the 2010's
I like some of the more creative countdown artists, like Rabbidluigi, but I'll admit, there's a huge portion of it that's just corporate mouthpieces reading dry scripts in dry voices for views.
Henceforth we are making Top 20 lists exclusively
I actually found a lot of interesting obscure pieces of media through such videos (not the ign ones, of course).
@@supercoolfacething no no
Top 27 lists
No more no less
Unless it's a holiday
A big charm of fighting games is having chamative characters with wacky abilities and cool designs, it's what brings people in, but what keeps them invested is the character's, well, character;
You first look at guilty gear and think 'wow cool fire blade guy and cool lighting sword guy!', but when you actually get into the series story, you see cool fire blade guy and cool lighting sword guy have a lot of personality and story to get you invested in.
You first look at mortal kombat and think 'wow cool fire ninja and cool ice ninja', and the problem is when you get into the game's story, they're still just that, cool fire ninja and cool ice ninja, with nothing to really make you invested beyound that
compared to other fighting games, modern MK is just hollow
I thought an interesting one was Killer Instinct with Hisako, who looks like a horror movie villain but isn't actually all that evil.
Ahh so it’s basically Liu denying Shang a fatality but still finishing... For some reason I knew there had to be a reason it was like that, thank you both for further pointing this out and taking Neatherrelm down some more. It’s a shame what fatalities have become, after doing over 300 fatalities for the Stupid Krypt head I don’t know if I’ll ever do fatalities again, mostly just Brutalities because even my younger brother pointed out “they’re better and look like the old ones” he’s completely right, besides my four pal’s Scorpion Sub Zero Johnny Cage and Noob having at least 1 good fatality, Shang Tsung and Kabal had a cool one each for me, and Robocop, Spawn, Joker, and Terminator having great fatalities (References and Such). Besides them I mostly do Brutalities because they are much more in the spirit of classic fatalities and even the DLC fighters brutalities are better as well because they’re simplistic or references like Scorpions fire breath, most of Sub Zero’s are great Ice kills, everyone has the Head Punch, Johnny’s “on set” kills, and Noob’s teleport and sickle kills, Spawn ripping out a spine, Robocop simply shooting your head off or exploding you with the cannon, or Terminator shooting them like the T-1000. Way more classic and interesting to me and I’d much rather be doing those than... everything else done nowadays and I’d honestly love to know what you think of the MK vs DC fatalities? I blame those developers making those fatalities (not completely) because of them we’re more Gorey than we’ve ever been nowadays since that “fail”
(Even though that game has a better story and bits of gameplay than the whole Neatherrelm series don’t kill me)
I think most people don’t like Liu Kang’s MK1 fatality because of the lack of gore. And I personally think story shouldn’t interfere with gameplay(I’m not trying to say story matters. I think story matters a lot)
But ur kinda right, most of the casual general MK fanbase nowadays think that gore makes MK good. That’s why the new MK movie is probably going to be successful, because of fatalities
I think the oddest thing about modern MK and its violence is the continued importance of the story and character. It creates this weird juxtaposition where characters are chums in the story (and even intro dialogue) yet can still eviscerate each other outside of Story Mode. And that probably wouldn't be so strange if NRS didn't continued its emphasis on the story mode and characters.
That’s just like saying that Aang defeating Ozai by taking away his fire bending is the worst ending in cartoon history as opposed to killing Ozai. Aang killing Ozai would go against him being an Airbending monk.
Back at it again with the Liu Kang respect i love it.
I'm surprised Liu Kang never had a fatality where he punches through someone's heart but sets them down gently to the ground and bows humbly.
bro hit him with the sukuna
in Shaolin monks, it could be argued that Kung lao was the more violent of the duo and add to that his immense early jealousy and resintment towards Liu kang made him want to say "show off" more and be more extreme with his methods in comparsion to liu kang
I noticed in intro how liu kang killed non of the opponents but only knocked out the guards while kung lao immediatly went with decapitated the guards adding to his violent tendacy, I tend to notice that Kung lao fatalities is more stylish and playedful compared to liu kang random decapitations...
Against reptile (who could be argued as the proper first boss) it could have showcased kung lao path of bloodshed by having him only do the fatality like the clip you showed (similar to how only Jonny cage can do the fatality after the boss fight) and liu kang could have been the one who starts questioning his violent methods
Obviously this is me head-canoning since obviously it's not what devs seem to intend and liu kang can do the same nasty stuff in cutscene form so another potential wasted for that game
I'm definitely not gonna call Liu Kang's fatality the best aesthetic wise but story wise? It makes a lot of sense for why he would choose to spare the opponents!
I love this so much. This was well-thought and cogent. I realised this truth you expressed a long time ago. I've never thought the fatality was lame. Then again, "the powers that be" don't listen to their fans anymore and have let the entire franchise degrade irreparably. The only thing that could possibly save the franchise now is a "hard reboot" taking it back to its roots and lovingly, carefully crafted by writers who genuinely respect the established lore and characterization. I'm no prude either. I'm not against fatalities, but the over-the-top *LETHAL* violence _BEFORE_ the rounds end suck me right out of the experience nowadays. It mind-bogglingly stupid to expect ANYTHING to SURVIVE the ridiculous supermoves - X-rays; fatal blows; etc... but leave the fatalities for _the END OF THE ROUND! Jeez..._
Oh and also
...Casie's Fatality of shattering your lower jaw is just plain stupid. It's silly to expect that to be 100% fatal, let alone anything but needlessly f'up.
Great points in this video. Fatalities are MK’s biggest gimmick IMO. Very few fatalities are actually canon. Scorpion’s toasty on Bi Han is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.
I think one of d'vorah's from mkx is cannon too, she kills Baraka with it.
I understand that mk is known for the gore, but now its like the entire staff is releasing all of their personal anger through those fatalities.
Doesn't Lui's fatality end up snapping his opponent's neck thus killing them? That was how magazines and strategy guides described it at the time since most people were confused by it.
Yeah well your mom.
I mean the magazines and strategy guides can be wrong
Huh, didn't expect this kind of video. I already played like this online, but mostly with Kung Lao. I'd only commit fatalities on arch-nemeses (or "good" characters if I was playing his Revenant version) because... it just feels weird otherwise.
Then again, I'm also the type of person that tries to choose costumes as close to being canonical to the fight at hand, so I don't claim to be normal. Good vid!
Liu Kang's cartwheel fatality was the reason I became a fan of his. how can anyone hate on that finisher is beyond me.
As a kid I always felt like the opponent still died from it, given how high they are launched before smacking the ground.
If he punched or kicked the opponent off screen just before they hit the ground, it would be vastly improved IMO.
Whoa this collab this is some avenger level Ambitions Snake and Abi this video grand you two outdid your selfs
I had no idea that fatalities could convey character, thanks for pointing that out 😁
Honestly with the reboot timeline it would’ve been perfect if we had the option in Story to perform a Fatality with Liu Kang, like after defeating Kahn we have the option to kill him or spare him, killing him would continue the story as normal or if we spare him it goes in a much different direction
Love the American accent 🤣🤣🤣 love from Cyprus 🇨🇾
Thank you @The4thSnake! I thought I was the only one noticing that MK stories lack character and that good characters should be refusing to kill but not all are capable save for Liu Kang.
I like how your impression of IGN at the beginning is like u impersonating Mike from RLM lol.
Story and gameplay are two different thungs i think fatalities are just player expression at this point like i use them on people that just press buttons and dont think
I don't know, while it is consistent within the context of the first game for Liu Kang not to kill his opponents, what exactly does it say that Johnny Cage, an actor, doesn't hesitate at all to uppercut his opponent's head clean off their shoulders? You could make the argument about him not being a pacifist like Liu, but in most material related to the first tournament, Johnny is pretty consistently portrayed as a fish out of water, and it's very odd to think he'd get over having to fight people to the death that quickly. Of course, this could be a case of him adapting to the situation rather well (the movie suggests this with how he quickly adapts to the life-or-death stakes he's faced with against Scorpion, and he's all too eager to send Goro falling to his death in revenge for his buddy), but I always found it funny how Johnny's Fatality is the one that seems the most out of left field, Sonya would likely have little issue with taking someone's life being a military operative, Scorpion and Sub-Zero are both assassins, Kano is a ruthless criminal, Raiden is considerably more callous and uncaring in his MK1 appearance, and Liu refuses to kill. So there's either something we don't know about John Carlton rooted in his past that made him get over murdering his opponents real quick, or the award-winning "Sudden Violence" was a more apt movie for him that we initially realized.
I have to disagree that Liu's original Fatality is the best at portraying character. Scorpion's Fatality pretty well summarizes everything about him to that point, as a vengeful undead spectre returned from hell. He wants his opponents to suffer like he's suffered, and the fire that acts as a metaphor for his boundless rage is forcibly spewed forth at the defeated fighter, burning them to ashy, skeletal remains. It shows how his rage is all-consuming, and will reduce anyone in his way to nothing. Plus, canonically, after he beat Sub-Zero, he literally faded into a pile of ash and left the tournament, having no further concern there, his vengeance satisfied. I mean, if that's not conveying character, I don't know what is. Of course, as the series went on, the violence for its own sake became pretty much the main draw of the series, and honestly, I don't have any problem whatsoever with them choosing to lean into what was providing their series with its own unique niche, not to mention piles upon piles of sweet, sweet money.
Also, the classic Friendships were far better because they didn't belabor the point, they were quite quick and hilarious. "Buy a Scorpion/Sub-Zero/Reptile doll!", "To my best fan", the jack-in-the-boxes from MK3, Stryker directing traffic, Kidd Thunder!!, Kung Lao playing fetch with the dog with his hat (and his obvious wince when it's implied it doesn't end well), and so on and so forth. The issue is basically what it's always been for NRS: seeing what did work and was beloved by the fandom from earlier game and forcibly ramming those things into the game with all the grace of a Mack truck, going completely overboard and turning everything up to 11 (no pun intended) to the point where it starts to detract from what made those elements enjoyable to begin with. Tobias truly did pull a Shang Tsung on the franchise when he left, because it is desperately wanting for a soul.
Interesting, I've never actually thought of that before now. Good job 4th Snake 👍
i love all of you guys here. ive been feeling this way about the mk series since elementary school.
I think Netflix's Daredevil is what Liu Kang (in the Nether realm games) should try to be
Fatalities became boring and unfun, honestly.
When all of your characters are violent killing machines then it's dull.
It's just a way to farm hearts for the Krypt when you fuck up the objectivity bettet brutalities. They're quick, to the point, and reflect the arcade era's tone instead of a boring cinematic. MK9 was the last time fatalities didn't feel like they came from a cheesy kill from Saw with the budget of Sharknado.
I like the concept of doing finishers in Arcade mode makes Shang Tsung a stronger boss to fight.
They should totally do that.
I honestly thought that was a real IGN sound bite at the beginning XD
Also still wish they wouldn’t have amped up the jackass meter on Kung Lao in MK11, honestly the version in MK9 was fine. Yeah I’ll never shut up about the way Kung Lao’s been handled lately.
The guy beat the Deadly Alliance when Kronika's time merging began. Probably beat Kintaro, too at that point. Moments before, he was told that maybe he is meant to beat Shao Kahn.
I like to think his arrogance was born from that moment. And since Shao Kahn didn't break his neck in time, it was allowed to grow. But that's just my theory.
@@ParticleBomb It’s not a bad hypothesis. Let’s forget about his arrogance for a moment; why does he do stuff like ask Jade to go on a double date with Liu Kang and Kitana, or ask Kitana if she has a sister. Is this MK Conquest Raiden on the when he picked up that blonde girl!? Since when does Kung Lao try asking out women? I know it’s my opinion but I prefer the less insufferable version of him; maybe if NRS put in a tad more humility on the guy, his current personality wouldn’t be so jarring. But the writers will probably keep snorting crack instead of at least trying with his characterization.
I understand why Liu Kang doesn’t kill but at the same time people like Shang Tsung are to dangerous to be left alive and this not only put the other realms at risk but earthrealm as well.
I wish newer MK games did brutality less in the "blood and guts and eyes popping out" edgy kinda way and more in the "Imagine how it would feel to die like this" kinda way.
Your lil' comment about Raiden turning people to dust kinda points to that too. I want more creative fatality ideas that aren't necessarily as bloody, but more painful and horrifying conceptually.
What if Johnny cage punched your genitals so hard that they were launched back into your body?
What if Raiden or Scorpion took you by the head and filled your mind with so much information or some unspeakable horror that you'd be left limp and catatonic?
What if Noob Saibot or, again, Scorpion took you into their portals and you couldn't see what happened, but you'd hear the enemy's terrified screams?
What if Baraka simply jabbed you through the chest with his blades, and as the camera closes in on him and the enemy, you'd see a wicked smile, implying the terrible things he would do instead of just showing them?
What if Liu Kang's dragon transformation would be shown as some kind of uncontrollable change that turned him into a violent monster, and after transforming back he'd look upon the enemy's mangled corpse and actually kneel down in sadness and despair?
What if more fatalities did internal fatal damage instead of external, and focus more on the enemy's reaction to it, their panic and helplessness than just the gore itself?
What if more fatalities showed the 'executioner's' facial expressions, whether of glee or sadness or anger or anything else?
See, this is related to another thing I appreciated about the 3D era; fight stances showed character (save Armageddon of course). When Liu Kang made his debut in that era, it's not really questioned he'd be using Jun Fan, which is just a modified Jeet Kune Do, a philosophy someone like him who was raised in Henan province in China would have heard of, and Pao Chui, a fighting style literally a part of the teachings in the Shaolin Temple today.
Another, controversial, example would be Drahmin in Deadly Alliance. All three of his fighting styles are mentioned in his bio and concept arts, clearly rooted in his character, them being Netherrealm (misspelled with one 'r' in game), Oni, and Iron Club. Drahmin had massive burst potential in the game, but no natural chains making him less favorable. However, from a story perspective, it makes enough sense to know *why* it is that way. Now this doesn't necessarily mean I'm justifying fucking over gameplay mechanics for story of course. His gameplay could have easily done a better job at displaying his techniques without dumbing him down to just a meathead with an easily exploitable power-up, pop up, special move combo that wipes out half the opponent's hp, BUT I do think, as it is, it's a good approach.
Just some of my thoughts on the matter of characterization through gameplay.
God, I can’t wait until the proper Mortal Kombat (2021) review. I can already see it being the whole movie with lots of jumps and cuts for continuity; lots of comments about how cheap the costumes look
Not only does this video bring up good points about integrating story telling into gameplay, but it also reminds me that Killer Instinct beat MK to the idea A.B.I presented with the whole "Killing or not killing opponents affects the final boss" thing. In Shadow Lords, the game makes sure to tell you how obnoxiously powered Gargos is, and it's up to you and your allies to defeat him. If you let corruption get too high, one of his enforcers (called Omens) appears, bearing a power. Defeat him, and you weaken Gargos and remove some of the global corruption, fail and he'll have an additional power in the final battle. It really helps convey a sense of threat to the final boss, which I feel a lot of games ignore.
I don't know why, but I always really liked Liu Kang.
I guess you've given me one reason on why.
Liu Kang should always have a violent fatality and his Mk1 fatality.
Yeah, one for normal enemies and for the bosses. Like he was so pissed at them or something
This was a damn good video! I'm just going to leave it at that to avoid writing an essay lol
I'm glad someone is calling out how shit the modern fatalities are. You earned the sub lad, great vid.
Hey Snake, great video and I agreed with all the points you suggested. I did have an idea tho, I know you're working on IJ 2 right now but it would be cool if you did a Wasted Potential on the post flashpoint universe and what could've been done instead.
actually, warrior monks are not banned from taking lives depending on the era and faction (most monks leave their opponents crippled on victory); however, they still don't actively seek to kill someone brutally with fatalities and such.
but this is MK so whatever goes
Me when I saw this thumbnail: "Oh this should be good."
Me after watching the video: "....dammit he's got a really good point."
I don't who's worst when it comes to fatality opinions... The majority of the MK content creators, even non-exclusive MK content creators like Maximilian Dood or the majority of the MK playerbase, but one thing is certain. These guys are fucking up with NRS's minds.
It's no longer an "Ed Boon and his friends having fun creating videogames", it's about gore and graphic violence and shit.
I main Bo' Rai Cho, a character specialist, may I call myself, because it's almost impossible to be such a thing in this franchise, if your main is not apart of the holy cast.
I was watching Max's 'rate the fatal' on Bo's MK: Deception 2nd fatality in which he farts fire onto the opponent and then proceeds to complain about the smell, finishing with a bow to the audience and having a blast. Max called it lame. I was screaming loudly at the screen: "THAT'S THE MOTHERFUCKING POINT!!!".
From devs heads impaled into the spikes in "The Pit" to corpses exploding into thrice the amount of bones, one message always comes across which is: "We are not meant to be taken serious, guys! Period!"
I expected a sarcastic video. I’m shocked that you are actually serious.
Without even watching this video, I can tell you it was the best fatality because it actually fit the character and made the storyline cohesive and believable. Liu Kang was a monk who didn't believe in killing, therefore, he wouldn't be the type of character to do a fatality. The future games got away from character development and made it all about "blood and gore" to pander to the adolescent minded fans.
As soon as I thought “watchmojo or screen rant would more than likely do a top 10” you show watchmojo
Took the words right out of my mouth man.
You should create your own fatalities! That would be a really interesting video to see! How would you design a fatality and what in your opinion should be enough.
Damn I missed this. What a great vid. I wish nrs would see your content and hire you